Looking for the perfect wave in Costa Rica
We are Suzy and Neil Carmody and we’re the crew! It’s usually just the two of us, except when we pick up friends for a cruise. Neil’s the skipper most of the time and I do all the other bits (or the other way around!). Life on board Distant Drummer is totally what we had hoped for; busy but relaxed, living on our own schedule and in tune with nature and the weather.
Aliens landed on Mount Washington, Vancouver island
Neil’s from Perth, W.Australia. He spent most of his previous life doing maintenance and construction in the oil industry. But these days if he’s not sailing the boat or lifting heavy things he’s playing the guitar or painting. Suzy’s a rock doctor from Devon, England. She worked in the oil business, firstly in London then in 1995 she left the UK bound firstly to Norway and then all over SE Asia. Our paths crossed in Brunei, we figured out life together on a boat was the life we wanted and started saving hard.
Super happy to have found Distant Drummer
We found Distant Drummer in Phuket, Thailand in 2006. Neil lived on board and we spent most of that year getting DD and ourselves ready to cruise. We left Thailand in 2007 and spent a beautiful year sailing through Indonesia, north and western Australia then down through the Great Barrier Reef and across the Tasman Sea to Nelson, NZ.
Maya – ten years on
We spent 2008 looking after Maya, Neil’s daughter, then 2009 saw a temporary parting of the ways. After a disastrous GFC Suzy and Neil reluctantly decided to return to SE Asia to refill the coffers while Distant Drummer stayed in Nelson Marina.
Snorkelling in the lagoon in Taha’a, French Polynesia
After five years in Jakarta, getting back on the boat in 2014 felt fabulous. We had a shakedown cruise across the Tasman and once we’d fixed all the bits the fell apart we headed off into the Pacific. We enjoyed French Polynesia during the northern hurricane season then crossed the equator in December 2015 to spend the southern hurricane season in Hawaii.
Dodging icebergs in Tracy Arm, Alaska
We reached landfall in America in Sitka, Alaska and have spent the last two years cruising down the west coast through Canada, USA, Mexico and Central America. It has been a fabuous four year voyage around the Pacific and now we are in Panama. Next year we will transit the Canal and begin exploring the Caribbean Sea.
If you see us on the water sometime, give us a shout!!
Suzy and Neil